The following background information may present examples of specific aspects of the prior art (e.g., without limitation, approaches, facts, or common wisdom) that, while expected to be helpful to further educate the reader as to additional aspects of the prior art, is not to be construed as limiting the present invention, or any embodiments thereof, to anything stated or implied therein or inferred thereupon.
It is known that an artificial light source for plants is generally an electric light, designed to stimulate plant growth by emitting an electromagnetic spectrum appropriate for photosynthesis. Grow lights are used in applications where there is either no naturally occurring light, or where supplemental light is required. For example, in the winter months when the available hours of daylight may be insufficient for the desired plant growth, lights are used to extend the time the plants receive light. If plants do not receive enough light, they will grow long and spindly.
Grow lights either attempt to provide a light spectrum similar to that of the sun, or to provide a spectrum that is more tailored to the needs of the plants being cultivated. Outdoor conditions are mimicked with varying color, temperatures and spectral outputs from the grow light, as well as varying the lumen output (intensity) of the lamps. Depending on the type of plant being cultivated, the stage of cultivation (e.g., the germination/vegetative phase or the flowering/fruiting phase), and the photoperiod required by the plants, specific ranges of spectrum, luminous efficacy and color temperature are desirable for use with specific plants and time periods.
Typically, indoor growing requires that you simply place your required light source above your plant, and adjust its height as needed as the plant matures. However, problems can arise as the plant's height increases, so too does its overall distance from this light source, creating insufficient light intensities below the top of the plant's shadows. To compensate for this, the intensity of the wattage light source must be factored in. With this common set-up, the light output and the plant remained fixed, while the height of the light source is adjusted.
It is known that there are at least two factors which reduce artificial light to much of a plant. First, the upper portions of a plant often block light coming from above, preventing it from reaching lower portions of the plant. Second, light intensity greatly diminishes with increased distance as described by the inverse-square law. It is known that the inverse-square law states that as the distance from the light source is increased, the light intensity is diminished relative to the square of the distance. Therefore, a growing structure which alleviates these problems will greatly enhance the yield of a plant.
Other proposals have involved systems for artificial growth lights. The problem with these is that they do not automatically adjust to compensate for the incrementally increasing height of a plant. Even though the above cited artificial lighting systems meets some of the needs of the market, a plant lighting system that adjusts the light intensity and position of the plant based on readings from an infrared sensing device and a sound propagation device is still desired.